"What do you want, Merle?" Naomi asked flatly.
Merle smirked at her. "Now why would ya think I want something from ya, darlin'? I can't stop by to hang out?"
Naomi sighed and laid on her bed. Her muscles were sore from the gun training. "I don't want to hang out."
"Has anybody ever told you that yer boring? I'd be boring too if I hung around with officer friendly's kid all day. What do you guys do, sit 'round and talk about yer dead parents?"
Naomi closed her eyes. Merle didn't have a filter or feelings.
A knock on the door caused Naomi to open her eyes and sit up. "Come in."
Rick and Daryl were on the other side of the door. Daryl looked confused and Rick looked angry.
"What the hell are you doing in here?" Rick asked looking directly at Merle and then rounded on Naomi. "Naomi, why are you alone with him?!"
"He was in my room when I got here!" She crossed her arms and chanced a look at Daryl. He was looking at Merle still only his confusion turned to annoyance. Naomi felt herself flush. Why was Rick treating her like a child in front of him?
"C'mon Merle, get out." Daryl said to his brother and they both left the room, Merle was mumbling something under his breath.
Asshole.
"What's up, Rick?" Naomi said and smiled at the man. She loved him even though he treated her like a kid. Rick had taken her in and cared for her like he cared for Carl. She broke down and he comforted her for two weeks after her father died. Rick was the only family she had.
"Well, I came to see if you want to go on a run tomorrow?" Rick asked, still clearly agitated by Merle.
"I already told Carl I don't want to, we spend too much time together."
"Carl asked you to go?" Rick asked confused and Naomi shook her head. "I think it'd be good for you to see what it's like, get some shooting practice in."
Naomi suppressed a laugh thinking about how much Carl and Rick sound alike.
"Once we hit town we break into pairs, you don't have to team up with Carl."
Naomi was intrigued to go out of the house to do something. She was also scared of all the things that could happen out there, but she would have to be brave. That's the first thing her father said to her at the beginning of the end.
"Sure, Rick."
"Great." Rick patted her on the back. "We leave in the morning. Get some rest."
Rick left her room and she laid back down. She promised herself she wouldn't miss a target tomorrow if they ran into any trouble, she'd show Carl that he was wrong.
Naomi eventually gave in to sleep.
Carl was the first one up and ready to leave. He complained about how long they took getting up when they all sat around the van eating breakfast and gearing up.
"How are you feeling today, Naomi? Ready to take down some walkers?" Shane asked as he threw her a water bottle.
Naomi shrugged. She had killed some walkers when her and her dad were heading to Atlanta. If a horde came, they ran.
Carl looked over at her and then at Daryl. When he turned to look back at her he had an amused expression on his face.
Naomi rolled her eyes. She was happy she wouldn't be with him all day, even if she got paired up with Shane it would be better than being with Carl.
They rolled out and headed towards their destination. Rick said he saw a town that was about two hours away on the map they got from the local gas station.
Shane had parked them on the side of the road at the entrance of the town, it was very small. All the stores were sat right next to each other, and had no signs of vacancy.
"Carl, you're with Shane. Merle, you're with me. Daryl you're with Naomi." Rick said and handed everyone a list.
"Ya gotta be shitting me!" Merle exclaimed with a look of agitation. "I should be with my baby brother, someone's gotta watch his ass."
Daryl scoffed. "I was watching my own ass when you weren't around, makes no difference now."
Naomi was still registering the fact that she'd been paired up with Daryl. She thought Rick would pair her up with Shane or himself, but Daryl?
She hadn't spoken a word since her and Daryl went towards the store they were going to ransack.
Naomi had almost just walked in the store but Daryl grabbed her shoulder to stop her and tapped on the window.
"Give it a minute." He said and started picking at his nails.
After five minutes, when no walkers came up to the window, they decided to go in.
Daryl took the lead and Naomi followed close behind, she had her knife out just incase. Naomi's gun was in the back of her pants.
They were in a clinics office, there had to be some left over medical supplies in there somewhere.
"I'll check the back room, you just sit tight til I give you the ok." Daryl said while loading his crossbow.
Naomi shook her head. What else could she do? She wasn't that skilled at killing walkers yet. At least when she killed them with her dad they weren't all secluded to one room, she had some range to run if need be.
Daryl had been gone about 5 minutes and she heard noises come from the back room. Naomi figured Daryl was getting caught up with too many walkers so she ran to help him. She didn't expect to see what she did..
Three men were in the room and one of them were holding Daryl's crossbow, that same man had just knocked Daryl out by hitting him in the face with his own weapon.
Naomi went to run away from them, she needed to find Rick. She couldn't save Daryl by herself. If she pulled out her gun she would be dead in an instant.
One of the men tackled her to the ground and her knife jumped across the floor.
His mouth was next to her ear and all she could smell was alcohol.
"Now where do you think you're going little lady? Ya see, my friends and I have been waiting for an opportunity like this. We're gonna take you and your boyfriend here back to our camp, we're gonna torture the living shit out of him.. and you.." The man laughed and Naomi couldn't hide the fear creeping up inside her.
"You're gonna be wishing you were dead." He said as he stroked her face and put her hair behind her ear.
